Councilman Cunningham: Differential water rates are equitable

Readers of the Arizona Daily Star would be hard-pressed to go a week without seeing an article about how climate change is wreaking havoc around the globe.

Locally, climate change has brought record-breaking heat and drought and is threatening our most precious resource: Tucson’s water supply.

As a Tucson city councilman and a former environmental aide, we have both worked closely on Tucson’s water policy and we are very familiar with the unprecedented threats looming in our future.

A recent article by Tony Davis, “New study finds climate change could reduce local supplies of groundwater” published on March 21, found that researchers have warned that the Colorado River basin could “face severe future cuts in water supplies due to climate change.”

An additional study found that climate change could also reduce our local supplies of groundwater. This means that potential cuts to our CAP water could force us back to pumping groundwater.

Although the city has done a great job recharging our aquifer by “banking water,” new studies are warning that access to that stored water is not as reliable as once thought. The future of the Tucson region depends on the future of our water supply.

In the past decade, the mayor and council have worked hard to protect our water supply, encourage conservation and recharge our aquifer. Although they are urgent matters, climate change and drought are not the only things to consider when dealing with our water policy.

In a recent column, Supervisor Rex Scott bemoaned the idea of the city of Tucson charging a higher rate to water customers outside city limits in unincorporated Pima County.

He correctly mentioned the fact that almost every other town and city in Arizona charges a “differential rate” for service outside their boundaries (if they serve outside of their boundaries at all).

From Yuma to Phoenix to Flagstaff, these water providers charge up to 50% more for water delivery outside their jurisdiction. The column mistakenly asserts that the city is a regional water provider.

The intergovernmental agreement with the Central Arizona Project from 1979 was carefully crafted to specifically state that Tucson is not a regional water provider.

No one likes to mention that water customers in unincorporated areas already cost the city and the county millions in revenues. Pima County loses out on tens of millions of dollars every year in state shared revenues because the formula is based on how many people live in incorporated towns or cities.

By providing the municipal services to unincorporated areas, Pima County has been an unwitting partner to the state treating Southern Arizona unfairly when it comes to state shared revenues.

Moreover, the city of Tucson actually forfeits 2,000 acre-feet per year of reclaimed water recharge credits in the unincorporated areas by allowing other communities to claim the credits.

Up until the last decade, the city of Tucson served indiscriminately outside the city limits. In recent years, the mayor and council have been more intentional in regards to our scarce water supply, and that’s a good thing.

If residents of unincorporated areas are opposed to paying higher water rates, they should consider annexing into the city of Tucson, Oro Valley or Marana. They can also incorporate themselves, which would direct more state shared revenue to Southern Arizona and benefit the region as a whole.

The proposal in front of the mayor and council on April 6 would bring Tucson into alignment with other Arizona water utilities by charging a slightly higher rate for unincorporated users.

That additional money could be used to offset the growing number of delinquent and low-income water accounts impacted by COVID-19 and the economic damage caused to our residents (including those people who live outside the city).

It could also fund additional green infrastructure for water conservation and water retention and recharge projects across the city. These projects could focus on marginalized communities that have little to no green space, trees or water harvesting investment.

In short, the proposed differential rates could be used to help fund adaptation and mitigation to the impacts of climate change in an equitable manner. That would benefit all residents of Tucson and Pima County.